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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

In another thread I asked what is needed to install a minimal KDE4. My immediate focus is for my HTPC, but perhaps for older hardware too.

I want to expand that topic into a new thread: how to compile a minimal KDE4.

There is interest with this topic in the Slackware community, as seen in other threads. I hope this thread eventually is massaged into a Slackware doc for the wiki.

For now this thread can serve as a repository of notes and build options for various ways people might want to build a minimal KDE4.

First focus: dependencies. I want to build with no support at all for the semantic desktop or akonadi (KDE PIM apps). I want to avoid the following dependencies if possible:

soprano
akonadi
attica
shared-desktop-ontologies
virtuoso-ose

I snipped those package names from Eric's Slackware 14 alldeps build script in the order they are built.

I'm no cmake expert but in the kdelibs CMakeLists.txt I don't notice any build options to avoid those dependencies. Yet watching the configure output spew indicates only the attica package is required while the others are optional.

The kde-workspaces CMakeLists.txt was all I needed to find the "requirement." I don't understand why kactivities should be a requirement for a minimal build. I suppose I could imagine various use cases for activities on an HTPC, but that's pushing my crusty imagination a bit.

Well, I played around with this a few hours, removed the semantic desktop libs and the whole PIM stuff... only to conclude it isn't worth the hassle. It is possible to install a base KDE desktop (kdelibs, kdebase) without PIM and the semantic desktop (but not without kactivities), but you won't do much with it. If you want to build some further apps (graphics, network), the compilation process will complain about the missing bits at some point.

KISS approach: build the whole thing, but don't activate it.

On the other hand, it is possible to build kdebase without Konqueror (like the Salix folks do, for example). And if you want to build a package like kdeutils with only some of the utilities (ark, printer-applet) and without some of the others (kfloppy, superkaramba, ...), it's quite easy to do so. Just comment them out in the corresponding text file in the modules/ directory. I guess that's the most "minimal" one can reasonably do. If you want to strip it down further, you'll probably be better off using RazorQt.

To a point. I posted a set of minimal config files to help users keep most of the noise disabled without the need to reconfigure everything after first usage of KDE. Yet even with that config file set, activitymanagerd still runs. The only way I have found to disable that daemon is chmod -x and then KDE starts doing subtle weird things.

Oh yeah, disabling Akonadi is impossible and the KDE devs are highly unfriendly about not offering any kind of olive branch toward that end. Without Akonadi users have to find alternate PIM apps.

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On the other hand, it is possible to build kdebase without Konqueror (like the Salix folks do, for example).

I prefer Konqueror as a file manager over Dolphin.

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If you want to strip it down further, you'll probably be better off using RazorQt.

A challenge with Razor is the lack of apps. For example, no PIM apps and the only non KDE Qt email client does not support POP3. I also have looked for a KAlarm replacement. Maybe Orage, but at that point a person is mixing and matching widget backends (Qt and GTK) that using KDE or Razor as a desktop becomes a moot point. Why bother?

razor-qt's devs too seems to note the lack of an email client/PIM suite...

Yeah, I know. That is where I learned the status.

Perhaps somebody with the skills could grab the KDE 4.4.11.1 KDE PIM sources (the last version without Akonadi), remove the KDE dependencies, and then they would have a full PIM suite. Probably a lot of sweat equity....